


I Spilled All Over Velvet

by nacre



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Asphyxiation, Cracked Gems, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Episode s05e29-32 Change Your Mind, Pre-Steven Universe: the Movie, Stabbing, Whump, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-01-02 09:42:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21159590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nacre/pseuds/nacre
Summary: Tensions are high following the upturn of what gemkind has known for thousands of years, and some gems have it out for the "new Pink Diamond." Pearl acts as watch until everything settles, and sometimes it comes with ugly confrontations.





	I Spilled All Over Velvet

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from Patricia Lockwood's poem, "Jewel Thief Movie." Written for Whumptober 2019. My original prompt was 'asphyxiation,' but I turned it into a mix of bits of some other prompts as well. Enjoy!

In the coming months after the upheavals of White Diamond’s reign and the establishment of a new order, the citizens of Beach City--both human and gem--set out to provide a comforting new home to their forthcoming neighbors. Progress had been steady, and with the completion of the new beach house, Bismuth’s involvement in the project had vastly improved the efficiency and speed at which the newfound ‘Little Homeworld’ was constructed. Of course, the new town would house most of the uncorrupted gems that chose to stay on the planet, and it even found itself home to a few gems previously in Pink Diamond’s court that wished to be a part of her legacy--living through Steven himself though, as they still didn’t grasp the concept of humans and hybrids quite yet. They’d get there.

A few rogue gems had one gem on edge, however--their presence and behavior too close to those she saw in spies and traitors to their cause back during the war. One gem, a pesky Iolite who _didn’t want to make ‘peace talk’ one on one, Steven, don’t you see her body language, the way she’s looking at you?_ The malice in the indigo gem’s eyes was clear, and she wouldn’t let any more strangers come within a fifty meter radius of the house any longer. As such, Pearl put it upon herself to stand watch while Steven slept for the following weeks as tensions settled down, just in case. It had proven to be futile as of late; no one had really come to their end of the peninsula with all the construction and disorder going on.

Pearl made her way up to Steven’s new loft room, walled off from the rest of the house to grant him more privacy. He hadn’t gotten the chance to put up most of his things yet, but somehow the room felt comforting and familiar already. His cookie cat clock read 11:54 PM.

The alabaster gem walked over to the bed in the middle of the room and found it to be empty. Just as she was about to go looking for the teenager, he appeared at the top of the staircase, ready for sleep. He looked up from fastening his buttons and immediately noticed Pearl by his bed, and gave her a smile before he spoke.

“Pearl! Are you here to tuck me in?” he asked.

“Oh!” Pearl had a slight cyan on her cheeks, having been caught; “I just wanted to see if you were already in bed, which I now see you were _not._”

Steven reaches the other side of his bed and climbs in, sitting up against the headboard. “I know, I’m sorry! I was helping Amethyst out with something in Little Homeworld.”

“It’s almost midnight, Steven, you need a consistent sleep schedule! Especially with everything that’s going on right now.”

“It just went a little overtime, that’s all,” he said, sensing Pearl’s typical worry for his basic needs, “So how about that tucking in?”

Pearl calmed a bit--after all, he was getting older, and she didn’t need to harp on him for his bedtime as much anymore. She smiled and reached for his blanket.

“Just for you tonight. Lay down and get comfortable, mister!”

“Aye-aye sir!”

After Steven was fully nestled into his bed, he quickly drifted to sleep. Pearl smiled down at him, and she bent and laid a kiss on his forehead before she headed down to assume her position outside for the night.

-

Pearl was met with the chilled night air as she stepped outside. As she approached one of the outlying rocks, soon to be her perch for the time being, she summoned her spear and did a quick run-down of the area. Relieved that there was nothing amiss, she sat on the flat edge of the rock and watched the tide, humming to herself.

Minutes passed into an hour, and Pearl was so caught up in her impromptu-meditation session that she failed to hear a rustle in the sand behind her, and before she had time to react properly, she felt her wrist be yanked sideways. As she was lifted from her spot, her spear dropped and dematerialized.

She came face to face with the angry gaze of a quartz. “Where is Pink Diamond?”

Through her shock, Pearl gave the gem a quick run down: White’s insignia, rectangular gemstone on her chest, all black save for her grey suit and white hair. An onyx. Of course, Pearl was no stranger to fighting quartzes during the war. Despite her momentary panic, she attempted to calm herself down and get out of the situation unharmed.

“Pink Diamond is not around anymore. Unless you mean Steven, in which case, he is also unavailable at this moment--”

The gem yanked Pearl closer. “Why?”

“Well,” Pearl began, deciding to fib so as to not disclose any more information than she already had, “he is currently off planet. He wanted to go alone, and I don’t know where he went off to if you were planning on following him. Not that I would let you, anyhow.”

“Let me? Last time I checked that wasn’t up to the pearl to decide. I have some things I want to clear up with her and her ‘new empire’ business.”

“Well, I’m sure whatever needs to be said can be relayed through me.” Pearl growled at the gem and tugged her wrist, a signal to be let go. The onyx gripped tighter and grinned.

“Seems like a fair trade,” Onyx said as she acted faster than Pearl could think, throwing her forcefully into the rock behind her.

Pearl groaned as her back hit the solid stone, landing on her feet but staggering before regaining her footing. She summoned another spear. The onyx had summoned her weapon as well, a set of throwing knives. Immediately, the dark gem raised her arm, throwing knife after knife towards Pearl’s direction--one would surely land a hit.

Pearl took notice fast, and dodged through the storm of blades coming at her. They came in different directions from each other, making it difficult to escape in one definite direction. She blocked some with her spear, and the rest bounced off the rock. Pearl noticed one knife just in time, and reared left to avoid it--causing the next to graze her side, and she let out a strained cry, bringing her hand to the swipe to find it come back with a small line of teal.

The onyx ceased her knife tirade, giving Pearl a moment to reground herself and thrust her spear outward towards the gem. She narrowly hit the gem straight on, the spear grazing her arm, punctuated by a low growl. Onyx moved quick, giving Pearl less reaction time than she expected. More knives were summoned, and at close range, she thrust them out like daggers. Pearl moved to block the attack with her spear and tried to grant herself some space--she needed to keep up. Now was not the time to be out of practice. Noticing an opening, Onyx suddenly thrust her arm out below the spear, and hit her target dead on.

“_Agh!_”

Hearing the scream, the dark gem widened her grin and yanked her arm back, only to grab Pearl’s spear during her distracted state and discard it on the beach. She then grabbed hold of both of Pearl’s wrists before the smaller gem could stumble forward, bringing her close.

Pearl was breathing harder than normal to will some of the pain from the wound away. She looked into the other gem’s gaze and found nothing but pure _joy_, and she knew that she wouldn’t get out of the situation easily. She barely registered the feeling of being dropped, followed by her hair being grabbed, and she started to settle into the panic. Everything else was a blur until she felt the air rushing around her, her head being slammed against the stone and then a distinct crack as she screamed, and then white hot pain as she nearly passed out, falling to the ground. The torment didn’t stop this time, and she was swiftly lifted with two hands pressing hard against her neck. Trying to call for help now would be useless--Amethyst was off in Little Homeworld, Garnet was off searching for any gems they may have missed in their initial healing session, and she didn’t even know where Bismuth, Lapis, or Peridot would be at this hour--not to mention the excruciating constriction against her throat that was tightening every second, close to severing the connection between her gem and the rest of her body. Dissipating was near impossible now--she could only hope that someone would come by and aid her. She tried to call out anyway, unable to do much but let out a strained cry and grasp at the arms around her neck as she glitched in the onyx’s grip.

“I knew this would be fun… forget going after Pink. Her pearl will be just as fitting for revenge!” The dark gem then threw Pearl across the beach, causing her to slam into the cliffside and immediately fall to the ground, groaning. Footsteps approached her. “Tell Pink that she can find me on Homeworld when she’s done with her excursions around the galaxy,” she said, punctuated with a final stomp of a boot against Pearl’s gem, making the pale gem choke out a cry, “And let this be a message--the Diamond hierarchy reigns over all.”

Pearl laid on the ground for a while after the gem left, unable to move beyond tensing herself against each glitch that came, the wound on her abdomen dampening against her shirt. _When will the others get back…?_

Another glitch came, making her tense against the soft ground. “Ghhn--_ah!_”

As the night wore on, the spot in her vision overcame her, and she allowed herself to succumb to unconsciousness as she felt another glitch consume her.

-

Steven was always a light sleeper--ever since Lion had rudely woken him multiple times (though for a good cause, he supposed), he decided it was good for his own safety if he were to train himself to wake at the sense that something was wrong. It was fine for a while, but now that everything was peaceful for the most part, he was getting tired of the routine of waking every time he heard Cat Steven running around and mewling for food in the middle of the night.

Tonight though, he would be very glad he had the ability. He drifted into a deep sleep after Pearl tucked him in for the night, and it felt as though just a minute later he was woken up by yelling outside his window. Steven opened his eyes slowly. _Who could be on the beach at this hour...?_ He spent a while debating on checking out the scene or not--after all, it could just be loud tourists having a late night stroll--but he felt he should be sure, especially with the risk of hostile gems wanting to ‘talk’ to him again. _That Iolite really was up to no good…_

Steven finalized his decision to check out the noise and yawned, stretching. Lifting his covers, Steven got himself to his balcony and looked down--only to see a figure lying on the sand. In his sleepy state, he couldn’t make out who it was. Grumbling as this meant he had to investigate further, he slipped on his shoes and made his way down to the beach, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes in the process.

As Steven approached, he noticed something… odd. The form was trembling lightly, punctuated by bouts of glitches. Just then it hit him, and he noticed the familiar teal jacket with the signature star insignia. Snapping out of his haze, his eyes widened as dread settled into his stomach and he realized who it was.

“_Pearl!_” Steven cried, as he ran the last bit of distance before coming upon her shaking form. Hesitant to touch her in this state, he licked a hand in preparation for what he knew he’d be greeted with. “Pearl, are you with me?”

He lifted her with his free hand to cradle her gently, and to see the extent of the damage. Gently turning her head towards him, he gasped when he saw the state of her gem--a large crack going through the middle, smaller cracks ebbing from the main one. Her face was littered with scratches, and as he moved along, he noticed her shirt was dark and damp with something foreign. Somehow he knew exactly the connotations of such a sight, and immediately Steven prepared to heal whatever wound she was plagued with. He moved her jacket out of the way, not fully prepared to see just how bad it actually was. With extreme care, he touched his hand to the wound, and it healed quick.

Unfortunately for Pearl, however, the feeling of the wound closing so quick woke her up, and as she came to, she was hit with a fresh wave of pain coming from her gem as she tensed in Steven’s hold. One hand moved to grip Steven’s shirt as she groaned and glitched again.

“Pearl? A-are you awake?” Steven said, taking her hand off his garment and gripping it in his own hand, “I need you to tell me if there are any more wounds so I can heal them.”

Pearl opened her eyes to half-mast slowly, being met with the boy’s soft gaze. “S-Steven, I…”

“Don’t push yourself, please, Pearl, I just need you to tell me what else needs healing.”

She mumbled something. At Steven’s confused look, she pointed weakly to her gem.

“Is that it? No more wounds anywhere else?”

She nodded. “Just the cra--_ah!_” She said, bracing herself as another glitch washed over her. She gripped Steven’s hand with more force than he’d expected and shut her eyes tightly. The glitch lasted longer than the others, more intensity seeming to build and Pearl let out a strangled gasp as it passed.

Alarmed, Steven doubled his hold on her. “Pearl, stay with me, I need you to stay awake for me!”

“_Gh--hhah--_”

“Okay! I need my hand to heal it, I’m going to let go now.” At this, she nodded tensely, and let her hand leave his grip in favor of clutching her jacket as the final wave of the glitch passed. Steven pulled his hand to his mouth to lick it again, and immediately pressed it to Pearl’s gem. She was tense as the magic worked, and Steven could feel the pain wash out of her muscles as the cracks disappeared and she closed her eyes, letting herself fall asleep.

Once the gem was smooth, Steven looked it over for any missed spots, but found nothing. Pearl was resting, limp, in his hold. Choosing not to disturb her, he scooped her up to transfer her inside the house and onto the couch for the night.

-

The next morning, Steven was woken by the feeling of something sitting on the edge of his bed. Opening his eyes, he was met with Pearl’s face looking down at him and smiling. The boy sat up, rubbing his eyes.

“G’morning, Pearl.”

“Morning, Steven. Did you rest well?”

Steven rolled his eyes, but smiled. “Yeah! Did… were you comfortable last night, on the couch? I didn’t want to disturb you after you fell asleep…”

“Yes. I actually wanted to say thank you, for last night… I thought I’d be out there alone until the morning.”

“I’m glad I woke up and found you when I did… I don't want to think about the what-ifs, though. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

With this, Steven found himself engulfed in a hug. “I am too. I’m sorry you had to see it, though.”

“Nothing I’m not used to by now.”

The two stayed in the embrace for a bit longer, until Steven was broken from it by the promise of a pancake breakfast, made special by Pearl with his help. Soon after they finished the last batch, Amethyst warped in just on time to eat the leftover mess (and definitely at last half of the pancakes). Garnet joined them not long after with a small nod to the other three at the table, allowing the four of them to sit and relax for the rest of the day, stress-free.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I appreciate any feedback you may have for me. You can also find me on Tumblr and Twitter, at nacrepearl and nacrepearls respectively!


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